Use of public information when foraging: effects of time available to sample foods

It has been proposed that use of socially acquired information by animals should increase as the time available for individual resource sampling decreases. We gave Norway rat “observers” either 2 or 5 h day^–1 to sample four foods. Three of these foods were relatively palatable, but protein-poor; the fourth was relatively unpalatable, but protein-rich. We found that observer rats that for 2 h day^–1 both sampled foods and interacted with demonstrators eating only the protein-rich food ate more of the protein-rich food than did observers that sampled for 2 h day^–1 but had no opportunity to interact with demonstrators. On the other hand, observer rats that could sample foods for 5 h day^–1 ate equal amounts of protein-rich food whether they interacted with a demonstrator fed protein-rich food or not. Subsequent analyses showed that the time available to observers to sample foods, rather than the opportunity to interact with demonstrators determined whether such interaction influenced observers’ food choices. The results are consistent with the hypothesis that animals increase their use of public information in response to temporal constraints on opportunities for resource sampling. Received: 22 December 1998 / Accepted after revision: 27 February 1999     

Subjective evaluations of employer attributes by administration students

The paper is an application of the conjoint measurement methodology. An exploratory study was conducted of the trade-off relationships among four organizational attributes—dynamism, societal concern, functional/administrative emphasis, and relative size—as they relate to the selection of an employer by students of administration. Preference ranks of 36 employer concepts obtained from 86 graduate students of business, public, and hospital administration were analyzed according to the additive conjoint measurement model yielding implicit rank-ordering of the four organizational attributes as choice criteria. Irrespective of the program of study, dynamism and societal concern emerged as the most important determinants in employer selection, but differences existed among programs, year of study, and explicitly vs implicitly elicited weights.     

Locus of control,perceived responsibility for prior fate,and helping behavior

One-hundred-and-sixty adolescents participated in two studies designed to investigate the relationship between $\text{I}\text{E}$ and helping behavior as mediated by the perceived cause of another's need. In the first study, Ss were given the opportunity to help, either “indirectly” or “directly,” a supervisor who had been over- or underpaid in a prior similar task. Internals helped more in the “direct” help than the “indirect” help conditions but their helping behavior and their perceptions of their supervisors were not consistent. The perceptions of the externals were relatively consistent with their greater help of the “overpaid” supervisor. In study 2, the Ss were given additional information to increase the possibility of their making causal attributions as a function of the supervisor's prior fate. Once again, the external subjects' helping behavior reflected their perception of their supervisor's merit. The internal subjects exhibited relatively little helping behavior regardless of their supervisors' prior fate or perceived competence.     

Relationships between SVIB nonoccupational scales and achievement for six Holland personality types

The subjects were 432 male freshmen at the University of North Dakota who completed the Vocational Preference Inventory and the Strong Vocational Interest Blank. Backward stepwise multiple regression was used to determine the relationships of eight SVIB nonoccupational scales to first semester GPA for the total research population and for each Holland personality type. Personality types were determined by using the highest T score among the first six VPI scales. Significant multiple correlations between the SVIB nonoccupational scales and GPA were found for the total research population and for five of the six personality types. For the Enterprising type, the eight SVIB scales failed to predict GPA significantly. The results were discussed in terms of the differential patterns of multiple correlations for the total research population and for the personality types.     

Factors of acceptability,acceptance and usage for non-rail autonomous public transport vehicles: A systematic literature review

Non-rail autonomous public transport vehicles have emerged over the last few years. Technical progress in automation has resulted in a growing number of autonomous shuttle pilot experiments. Although these systems are technologically feasible, determining the extent to which they correspond to users’ needs and expectations remains a major issue. In order to answer that question, we conducted a systematic review which synthesizes the literature regarding the acceptability and willingness to use this type of autonomous public transport. This literature review allowed us to identify 39 documents addressing 70 factors of acceptability, acceptance and usage of non-rail autonomous public transport vehicles. The most cited factors in the literature concern service characteristics (times, schedules, fares) and safety issues (road-safety, on-board security). Factors related to automation level, comfort and access to the vehicle feature appear to a lesser extent. Acceptance is also related to personal factors, such as socio-demographics, travel habits, and personality. This review could be of interest to designers and manufacturers of non-rail autonomous public transport vehicles, as well as policy makers, and assist with the successful implementation of autonomous public transport services which are better adapted and meet the needs of all potential users.     

Public awareness and knowledge of stuttering in Rio de Janeiro

This study reports the results of an investigation of public awareness and knowledge of stuttering in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. A total number of 606 street recruited respondents answered questions on various aspects of stuttering, including prevalence, onset, gender distribution, occurrence in different cultures, cause, treatment, intelligence, and hereditariness. The questionnaire used was a Portuguese version of the one by [Van Borsel, J., Verniers, I. & Bouvry, S. (1999). Public awareness of stuttering. Folia Phoniatrica et Logopaedica, 51, 124–132]. Although, stuttering is a disorder which is known to a majority of the participants, knowledge appears to be limited for certain aspects. Knowledge also differs among subgroups of participants according to gender, age and educational level. Comparison of the results of the current study with similar studies conducted in Belgium and in Shanghai, China shows several similarities but also some differences.

Educational objectives: The reader will be able to: (1) discuss public awareness and knowledge of stuttering in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; (2) discuss the differences in knowledge according to gender, age and educational level and; (3) discuss similarities and differences with comparable studies run in Belgium and Shanghai, China.     

The Mirror and I: When private opinions are in conflict with public norms

In two studies it is demonstrated that two self-saliency manipulations, often used interchangeably, can have profoundly different consequences. Whereas self-activation increased stereotyping in highly prejudiced participants, a mirror decreased stereotyping. Results show that this difference can be ascribed to the activation of specific self-aspects. Whereas a mirror increased both private and public self-awareness (and, hence, awareness of the social norm that stereotyping is bad), self-activation increased private self-awareness exclusively (and, hence, awareness of privately held negative stereotypes). The implications of these findings for the relation between self-awareness and conformity to social norms are discussed.     

Legitimation and Strategic Maneuvering in the Political Field

This article combines a pragma-dialectical conception of argumentation, a sociological conception of legitimacy and a sociological theory of the political field. In particular, it draws on the theorization of the political field developed by Pierre Bourdieu and tries to determine what new insights into the concept of strategic maneuvering might be offered by a sociological analysis of the political field. I analyze a speech made by the President of Romania, Traian Băsescu, following his suspension by Parliament in April 2007. I suggest that the argument developed in this speech can be regarded as an example of adjudication and I discuss its specificity as an adjudication in the political field in an electoral campaign. I also try to relate legitimation as political strategy to strategic maneuvering oriented to meeting the contradictory demands of the political field, which I see—following Bourdieu—as involving a double political game, a game of democratic representation and a game of power.